Teacher Pensions

"Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions"

Pension plans for teachers in charter schools vary widely, ranging from the state deﬁned-beneﬁt plans set up for regular public school teachers, to the defined-contribution, match-type plans used in other ﬁelds, to nothing at all, a new analysis ﬁnds.

The first-of-its-kind analysis, released last month by the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute, examines data from Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, and New York. Those states allow charter schools to choose whether to participate in a state pension plan.

Among its findings, the report notes that participation in a state pension plan differed by type, with stand-alone charter schools more likely to use the state system than those run by nonprofit charter-management organizations or by for-profit education management organizations. Levels of school participation in a state plan ranged from 90 percent or more in California to fewer than a quarter of charters in Arizona.

Notice: We recently upgraded our comments. (Learn more here.) If you are logged in as a subscriber or registered user and already have a Display Name on edweek.org, you can post comments. If you do not already have a Display Name, please create one here.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.